


What Could Have Been

by HypnoticNurse



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Celtic Games, Doomed Relationship, F/M, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, love at first kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21630487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HypnoticNurse/pseuds/HypnoticNurse
Summary: A kiss to the victor.
Relationships: Elinor/Stoick the Vast
Kudos: 6





	What Could Have Been

The roar of hundreds of competitors crescendoed as the victor stepped forward to claim his prize. He was an unexpected entry, having decided to participate in the games the day before they officially started. Declaring to have never competed in any of the events before only drove the ire of those he defeated. 

His tunic strained across his barrel chest, the leather vambraces strained any time he made a fist, the red beard growing on his face belied his youth, and the smug smile screamed confidence and arrogance. Each step brought him closer to the platform she waited on, causing her heart to pound louder and louder in her ears. 

Ten paces away the crowds roar deafened any noise around her. Nine paces away her breathing competed for her awareness. Eight paces, the crowd was miles away and not surrounding her a scant forty feet away. Seven paces, she was positive her parents and the victor could hear the pounding of her heart. Six paces away she forced her hands to her sides to stop their shaking. Five paces away the edges of her vision blurred and she could only see the mountain of a man come to a halt.

Her father’s words, the words of her clan’s chief hammered their way into her consciousness, “We thank all of ye fer coming and competing in honor of mah daughter’s birthday. In recognition of yer performance, and as agreed upon by mah daughter, the prize to the champion shall be a kiss. Step forward and claim that prize, Heir of the Hooligans! Stoick Haddock!”

He flashed that damned cocky smile to the crowd, raising his arms above him and turning a slow circle before resting those forest green eyes back on her. Heart thrumming in her ears, breath caught in her throat, she straightened her back and turned a cool gaze upon the victor.    
  


Four paces, three paces, two paces, and he is at the edge of the platform. He’s so damn tall! He doesn’t even step up on the stairs and his head is under her chin. His face turns up, and did he FUCKING WINK?!

Somehow the clearing of her mother’s throat cuts through the noise and takes her back to what she had agreed to do, even though she only did it because she was convinced another redhead was going to win. Sighing softly, she bends and lowers her head to give him a quick, feather light peck on the lips.

As her lips meets his, she finds time standing still and more thoughts than she considered possible flew across her mind. Like how his lips were incredibly soft for someone built like a stone, that he smelled of the sea and wood smoke, or that all the sounds disappeared in that brief moment. Pulling away, her eyes met his and an eternity passed in the time between seconds. Gone was the arrogance, in its place remained uncertainty and surprise.

Quietly she murmured a congratulations and returned to her seat next to her parents. Awash in her turbulent thoughts and emotions, she kept her eyes anywhere other than the dumb struck Viking hardly aware of the backslaps and ribbing his tribematers were bestowing on him. It took her mother’s prodding to rouse her from the seat and make their way back to the family hall.

Later that evening she found herself wandering the path by the river, near the longships of the Hooligans as they prepared to leave on the morrow. She waved to the few men not passed out drunk and continued on her way to a small knoll that overlooked the river and forest surrounding her home. She thought about everything and nothing, yet her mind constantly returned to the feeling of a giant’s lips upon hers and how it froze time.

She didn’t know how someone so big could be so quiet as he moved to stand a few feet away from her. Neither said a word, but found the distance quickly closed and their lips joining for more than a blink of an eye. The short hair of his beard was soft in the palm of her hand, the way his hands fit around her waist had no other description aside from perfect, and so the discoveries continued for a few more precious minutes.

Her chaperone found her far too soon and called for her to return home. Her eyes met his, a parting kiss and a silent promise of more. She turned to go when he called out, “Lady Elinor. Happy Birthday.”

The smile on her face stayed as sleep claimed her.

Watching his boat disappear around the bend of the river wrenched her heart in ways she had never experienced before. Promises of letters and visits in the future sustained her for several months. Then like many young loves the flames banked and simply fluttered out. Second accounts of horrendous dragon attacks on an island called Berk gave reason to why he did not visit nor write. The pain of what could have been never truly healed.

Decades went by before they were reunited, and in a surprise neither would have foreseen in a dozen lifetimes. 

A son of dragons and a daughter of the land found love in one another, binding two families that had long ago given up the hope.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is a small victory for me. I am new to writing fanfics and stories in general, but I found I don't write one shots very well. (See Changes That Choose Us).
> 
> So getting this completed and not having a dozen follow up chapters popping up in my head feels good :)
> 
> Why a Stoick/Elinor? Simple, I have not found another fanfic featuring the two together where their relationship wasn't hinging on some litany of several other characters. 
> 
> Do I ship it? Nah. 
> 
> Was it fun to write? Definitely
> 
> Leave a kudos, and comment if you have the time. Let me know what you think.


End file.
